The Galaxy's New Hero
by RainboWTF
Summary: When an asari maiden is found to be the only survivor of a supposedly batarian slave raid, question are raised, and she must discover her past to defeat an old foe.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everybody! I should be working on my other projects, but I needed to get this idea out of my head. **

**The Mass Effect universe belongs to Bioware. Enjoy.**

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The colony was eerily silent, which was a problem for a colony of it's size. The crops had been trampled underfoot, and chairs and such were overturned. Men and women were strewn across the ground, and bullet holes riddled their bodies.

Suddenly, a scream split the air, and a young Asari was dragged out of one of the rectangular dwellings by her wrist.

"Found 'er!" The batarian held a firm grip on her, but was pushed away by a field of blue energy. He grunted as he hit the wall, and the asari took the chance and started running.

She didn't know where she was going, she just needed to get away.

Her foot collided with something squishy, and she fell. She groaned, grumbling a curse word as she picked herself up off the soft grass. The sight at her feet made her freeze. Her breath came in short gasps as she stared at the body on the grass.

She thought they were slavers, but slavers didn't kill almost every person in the colony.

_What is going on here?_ She thought as she scrambled away from the body, trying desperately to get back on her feet. Her legs wobbled, refusing to cooperate even as a turian and a batarian came running at her.

She could feel tears stinging her eyes as the batarian grabbed her arm. She pulled herself away from him, but not before the butt of his gun collided with her forehead.

She went limp. She wasn't unconscious, just exhausted as they dragged her to a small tent that was set up as a temporary 'Base of Operations'.

The turian inside watched as the batarian dragged her in, then kneeled in front of her. He grabbed her chin, quite gently she noticed, and examined her face. She hadn't noticed the blood running down her forehead until the turian glared up at the batarian.

"I thought I told you idiots not to hurt her!" The batarian shrugged. He didn't think it was that big a deal, but the turian did,"Sorry, Treiyk, but she kept tryin' to get away."

Treiyk let out a low growl,"Just get out." The batarian nodded and left the asari where she was in the grass.

He took her face in his hands again, almost lovingly, and sighed,"You have no idea how important you are." He said it under his breath, and the asari wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been paying attention.

Another turian entered the tent,"Sir, an Alliance cruiser is entering the atmosphere. What are your orders?"

"Get everyone on the ship, I want you to escort her personally."

"Yes, sir." He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. He seemed in a hurry, and as the asari noticed, almost careless. His grip was more relaxed, and he seemed to have the goal of treating her better then the others had.

She almost felt bad for what she did next.

With a yell she threw him off of her with a blast of biotics, then lifted him up, and slammed him into the ground. The motion was quick, and he had barely touched the ground before she was fleeing again.

* * *

She rounded a corner and ran into one of the dwellings, making sure to lock the door behind her. She ignored the body in the corner and seated herself on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest, stiffling sobs as she listened to the yelling on the other side of the door. She could hear banging , and kept herself silent, hoping they would leave her alone.

Whatever made her important, Treiyk wanted it, bad. She could hear him giving orders to use explosives on the door. She decided that her well being didn't matter, because explosives in such a small area would certainly harm her too.

The voices stopped, and she could hear gunshots echoing outside. She scooted into a corner and curled in on herself, trying to make herself smaller, but to no avail.

The gunshots and yelling stopped, and she could hear orders being given.

"Check every house! Don't leave any rock unturned, or door unopened!"

The voice was feminine, and obviously the one in charge. She could feel herself shaking as a someone knocked,"Hello? Is anyone in there? We're Alliance, please say something."

"You're Alliance?" She asked tentatively.

"Oh! Yes, we are! Can you let me in? I promise, we're here to help you."

She stepped up to the door, her hand lingering on the holopad,"I'm opening the door. I have biotics, so don't try anything." Her voice was hard, but still gave her away as someone young.

She was a child by asari standards, almost 60, but to a human she would appear to be around 15. She finally unlocked the door, every muscle in her body tensing as she prepared herself for a fight.

The quarian on the other side looked up in surprise. Her eyes widened,"You're an asari." She stated, dumbfounded. Many quarians now went without their masks, mostly the youngest. The elders chose to keep their masks on, for tradition.

The asari rolled her eyes,"And you're a quarian. I didn't know Alliance had aliens stationed on their cruisers."

"Ya'Del, what'd you find?" The quarian was about to answer, but turned as a human female came into view.

"A survivor, asari." The human raised an eyebrow as she looked at the young alien.

"An asari on a human colony? Don't you think that's strange?"

"That's what I thought-" The alien in question cleared her throat loudly, violet eyes narrowed at the two,"Stop talking about me like I'm not here."

The human nodded,"Right, sorry. What's your name?"

"Kestya Pearson."


	2. Chapter 2

After the success of the Alliance ship, the Normandy, another was built; the SSV Leningrad SR-1. The Alliance even went as far as to instal an AI onto the ship. Of course, it was programmed with many precautionary boundaries and 'shackles' to keep it from becoming dangerous.

The Leningrad's captain, Commander Elizabeth Jenkins, sat in her room, tinkering with the gun in her lap. Her hands ran along the length of the barrel, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

"Commander." Elizabeth looked up. She wasn't used to the AI calling on her in her quarters. In fact, she wasn't used to the ship at all. The mission on the colony had been her first with the crew and the Leningrad.

"Yes?"

"The asari is ready to be interrogated. She is in the Med-Bay."

"Thank you, Emia."

She sighed, pushing herself up and off of her bed. The young asari, Kestya, had been found on the colony. She had been the only survivor, which was surprising. They had been told that it was batarian slavers, but slavers didn't kill everyone and leave only one survivor. _An asari at that_, she thought as the elevator _dinged_ at each floor.

The doors slid open on the third floor, and Elizabeth quickly made her way to the Med-bay where the doctor, Jeffry Cotte, was keeping Kestya. She had given the young asari time to adjust to the ship and come to terms with what had happened.

When she entered the Med-Bay, she was surprised to find the two laughing and joking. Cotte started the punchline of a joke, and Elizabeth quickly interrupted by clearing her throat.

Kestya looked up at her and sighed,"I'm sure you're going to want to know what happened." Her eyes still showed how sad she was, but she gave the commander a smile.

"Yes, if you are feeling up to it."

Kestya nodded,"I am."

"Good. Doctor, if you wouldn't mind." She gestured to the door, and Cotte quickly got the message, and left.

"Now, what were you doing on a human colony?" It was true. The colony had been strictly humans, and the only aliens present at all were the occasional quarian on pilgrimage.

"You see, I was adopted by the Pearsons when they were in their mid-twenties. I don't think they knew what they were getting into." Her last words were quite.

"What do you mean?" Kestya seemed surprised that Elizabeth had even noticed what she had said.

"Oh. Well, I'm technically a teenager, in human terms, but they were nearing their 90's when they..." Her voice trailed off, and she seemed close to crying again. _Poor, kid. _

"Yes, I see. Do you remember what species were primarily part of the raid?" She needed to keep Kestya was dwelling too long on her family. She needed to keep her talking, and if she started crying she would be useless.

"Turians and batarians, mainly. I don't remember much else, it was...hectic."

"Did you catch any names, ranks, anything else?"

Kestya nodded, a strange look on her face as she spoke,"Yes, I did catch a name. Treiyk. He was a turian."

Elizabeth frowned. The name wasn't familiar to her, which was strange. Of course, the whole mission had been strange.

"You need to stay on this floor until we get to Thessia." After the Reaper Wars almost 100 years ago, the Citadel had been severaly damaged, and was still under construction. The embassies had voted on Thessia, with it's mild climate and reputation with the rest of the galaxy, to temporarily house the Citadel's approximate 13.2 million residents.

Kestya's face lit up at the mention of the planet,"Really?" She had always wanted to visit her homeworld, as many children wanted to.

Elizabeth couldn't hrlp but chuckle at the girl's sudden enthusiasm,"Yes. You'll be staying in the crew's quarters for now. Once we get to Thessia we'll figure out where you will be going."

As she stepped into the elevator she sighed. She only hoped that the human ambassador could she givve her the answers she needed. She also decided that she would try to visit the asari ambassador, Liara T'Soni, and ask what to do with Kestya.

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**This chapter was tragically short. Anyways, ya'll heard correctly! Liara will be joining us in the next chapter, yay!**


	3. Chapter 3

The SSV Leningrad was a large ship, with several floors and rooms, and many crew-members of all different species.

And Kestya was stuck on the third floor.

The young asari sighed, leaning back in the bed that had been assigned for her in the crew's quarters. She scrunched her eyebrows together in concentration as a table across the room began to glow with a blue aura and float above the ground.

Her hand drifted slowly to the left, and the table flew across the room and out into the hall, splintering against the far wall. She winced and bit her lip as she heard exclamations of surprise and some obscenities from people in the room.

A quarian peeked her head around the corner, and Kestya recognized her as the one that had found her on the colony.

"Keelah, what happened?" Kestya popped up, and if she could blush she certainly would be,"I'm sorry! It was an accident! I didn't think that would happen."

The quarian chuckled and walked into the room,"It's alright, this ship's seen worse. Ever seen a charging krogan? It's worse in a confined space."

She held out her hand as she stepped up to Kestya,"Ya'Del nar Bova, I'm part of Commander Jenkin's crew."

"Kestya Pearson...I'm sure you know why I'm here." Her voice became quite towards the end of the sentence, and Ya'Del couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"So, what are you doing in here? You seem pretty restless." Kestya frowned _Is it that obvious?_

"The Commander told me to stay on this floor until we got to Thessia."

Ya'Del smirked,"Well, the commander is in her quarters right now..." Her voice trailed off, and Kestya immeadiantly got the hint.

"It was nice meeting you, Kestya." She put a three-fingered hand on her shoulder and smiled,"Stay safe."

"Thank you."

The quarian left, leaving Kestya to her own devices.

The elevator _dinged_ at each floor, and the doors slid open. Kestya's eyes widened as she took in the sight before her.

The CIC was amazing, and she found herself wanting to search through the Galaxy Map for hours. A couple of the crew gave her strange looks, but she ignored them as she walked slowly forward.

She had her back turned to the bridge as she walked, and felt herself hit something large and sturdy.

She turned on her heel and found herself looking up into the slightly annoyed face of a krogan. He glared down at her.

"Watch it, asari." He growled, pushing past her and walking to the elevator.

_Ya'Del wasn't kidding about the krogan._ She was certainly surprised to find one on the ship. She smiled to herself.

"Sorry 'bout him, he's an ass." The pilot had turned his chair around, and was looking at the asari with a crooked smile, which Kestya returned with a smaller one of her own.

"What's his name?"

"Rilau Jurdon. I suggest you stay out of his way, kid." He stood and moved over to Kestya, looking her up and down, then sticking out his hand,"Adrian Brison, and you are?"

"Kestya Pearson." She said, taking the human's hand, then letting her's drop awkwardly at her side.

"I suggest you get back to the crew's quarter's like the commander said, we're about to hit the Mass Relay."

Kestya looked at Brison in surprise,"How did you know?"

Brison chuckled and plopped back in her chair,"I have cameras and speakers all over the Leningrad. I know everything." He said the last sentence with a sweep of his arms, and turned himself back to the screens.

Kestya smiled, and found herself hurrying back down to the third floor, and almost running into a tall figure. She looked up at the turian in surprise, and had to press her hands to her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

She looked almost exactly like Treiyk, except for the small differences in body that made her female. Kestya had to take a moment to calm herself, which gave the turian enough time to scrutinize her.

"You okay?" Kestya nodded, and knew she would regret her next question.

"Y-Y-You don't happen to know a turian named Treiyk, do you?" She stuttered.

When she looked back up the turian's eyes were livid, and her mandibles flared. She took a menacing step forward and growled,"How do you know that name?"

Kestya blanched and took a step back.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I-I-I shouldn't-" The turian took another step, leering over her as she grabbed the front of her shirt.

"I said, how do you know that name?"

"Sehler!" The two looked over in surprise, well, Sehler looked more annoyed then surprised. Elizibeth stood at the elevator, arms crossed, glaring at the turian.

She let her grip on Kestya's shirt loosen and took a step back.

"Get back to the armory, we're having a talk." Sehler nodded and stepped away, but not before turning to Kestya and saying,"Treiyk was my late brother's name." Her voice had lost it's threatening tone, and she seemed almost lost as she walked away.

"Kestya, get back down to the third level and get ready to leave. We're about to head through the Mass Relay." Elizabeth said, glaring at the asari until she disappeared into the elevator.

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**This was** **mainly going to be a filler chapter to introduce some of the crew, but then I got ideas and the chapter took an interesting turn. What a twist!**


	4. Chapter 4

Liara sat at her desk, examining a datapad when she heard the knock at her door. She nodded to Velia, her assistant, and watched as the asari hurried to greet whoever had a meeting with her at the time.

"Oh, you must be Commander Jenkins. This must be Kestya, yes? Come in, the Counilar is ready for you."

_Kestya._ Her hand slipped, and the datapad clattered to the floor. Her throat grew dry, and she could feel her test tightening up. _Liara, you know where she is. She's safe. Whoever this girl is must have the same name. Of course._

She didn't look up as two sets of footsteps echoed in the quite room. She swept the datapads off her desk and into a drawer and looked up to address the two.

She froze, her eyes wide as she stared at the young asari. She slipped out from behind her desk and quickly moved in front of Kestya, stopping her in her tracks.

The maiden seemed mildly annoyed and confused at first, but as Liara gently traced the white specks along where a human's eyebrows would be, a look came across her face that Liara couldn't place.

She could feel tears in the corners of her eyes as she looked down at the asari that reminded her so much of her past lover.

_"Joker, have you heard anything?" Liara stood behind him on the bridge, her face creased with worry. _

_They had finally gotten the Normandy up and running again, but with the realization that the Mass Relays were not operational, they were forced to make the trip off their FTL drive alone. _

_They had finally found themselves in Council Space again, and she had been badgering Joker constantly on Shepard's fate._

_"Nothing yet, there's a lot of chatter, but all I'm getting is stuff about the Reapers. Whatever Shepard did at the Crucible destroyed them!" He looked back at Liara, a grin stretched across his face, but it seemed strained._

_"Let's just hope she's-"_

_"Wait, I've got a transmission coming in...it's Hackett!" _

_Liara leaned forward in an expectantly as the static filled face of Admiral Hackett came into view._

_"Joker, Liara...where is the rest of the crew?"_

_"Hackett," Joker was a bout to answer, but Liara cut him off,"please. We need to know."_

_The look on her face was one of desperation, and Joker was reminded of the relationship that the asari had with the must have seen it too, because he couldn't seem to meet Liara's gaze as he spoke._

_"Liara, I'm sorry. Shepard was a damn good soldier-"_

_"NO!" Liara yelled, her emotions getting the better of her. "Don't tell me she's dead. Please."_

_Neither of them had seen the asari so distraught as she put her head in her hands. Joker was silent, a grave look on his face as he turned his chair around and put a hand on Liara's shoulder._

_"She didn't even know." Liara's voice was muffled, and only audible to Joker as Hackett looked on, his face forlorn._

_"Didn't know what?"_

_Liara didn't say a word, instead her hand snaked down to her stomach, and her body was racked with a fresh wave of sobs._

Liara heard a cough behind her. The Commander that had found Kestya stood there awkwardly. She quickly stepped away from Kestya. She couldn't do this, not after so many years.

"The third apartment in the Presidium will be payed for in full. Now please, I have work to do." She slid back behind her desk, avoiding eye contact with the young asari.

It hurt her, to speak this way, as though her own daughter didn't matter to her. Kestya still looked very surprised, and Liara knew she would have so many questions.

"Wait, no-" The commander took Kestya's arm and led her out. Liara sighed and put her head in her hands. She could hear Velia shuffling awkwardly by her desk as she started to cry.

_Forgive me._


	5. Chapter 5

"No, wait! I have to go back!" Kestya struggled against Elizabeth, but the commander had a tight grip on her upper arm.

"Listen, I don't know what happened between you two back there, but when a _councilor_ tells you to leave- you leave." The girl was acting childish, and Elizabeth had to remind herself that Kestya was, technically, a child.

"I need to find out who she was."

"That was Liara T'Soni, she's the asari councilor and was part of Commander Shepard's team-"

"No," Kestya interrupted her, giving the older woman a hard stare,"I mean who she was to me."

Elizabeth sighed, draping an arm over the asari's shoulders,"Come on. Let's take this thing one at a time. How 'bout we go find where you'll be staying, eh?"

She wouldn't admit it, but she felt like crying. Something in the other asari's eyes had stirred something up in her chest, and she had to find out. She _had_ to.

Instead of fighting against Elizabeth more, she simply nodded and followed the human to the elevators.

As they walked through the Presidium, or at least it's replacement, she was amazed by the garden. She had seen pictures on the extranet of the Citadel before it was basically destroyed, and the Presidium had been beautiful. This new one could never compare to the old one, but it still attracted her gaze.

Kestya had rarely seen other asari in her life. Just the occasional visitor to the colony, so she had never cared about the way she dressed. But seeing the long, beautiful dresses made her feel a little self conscious. She was only wearing an Alliance uniform, which was a couple sizes too big, that Ya'Del had scrounged up for her.

Elizabeth stopped at the assigned apartment,"It needs your thumbprint."

Kestya nodded and pressed down with her, brooding silently until the doors unlocked and slid open of their own accord.

She stepped inside, and found herself admiring the seemingly large space. A bed, desk, small kitchen(though she had no idea how to cook), and a terminal.

Elizabeth nodded,"You have a pretty good setup here." She turned back to her and put a hand comfortingly on her shoulder,"Listen, I hate to leave you alone...but I have important things to do. I'll still be on the Citadel, but I won't have time to visit until we head out again. Stay safe. More importantly, _stay here_. Don't go wandering around, go down the wrong alley and this place is just as bad as Omega."

Kestya nodded,"Thank you. I'll be sure to send you a message after you leave."

Elizabeth headed out, but not before turning and offering another bit of advice to Kestya. The door finally closed behind the commander, and as Kestya sat down on the bed, the tears finally started coming.

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The Wards of the Citadel had been huge, each arm housing thousands of buildings. The Wards on Thessia, however, were probably half that size. The buildings were as bunched together, and the streets were as busy as 70 years ago, though.

Kestya found herself in the Wards, seeing as she wasn't going to sit in her apartment and starve.

Sadly, she was already lost.

The young asari groaned in frustration, as she walked. She had no omni-tool, no map, and she found herself realizing how bad an idea this had been

A shiver went down her spine and she turned, catching sight of the turian that immediately disappeared behind a corner as she turned. Her violet eyes narrowed and she sped up her walk.

The same feeling overtook her and looked back, only to see the same turian again. He quickly ducked away, and her heart started pounding.

She sped up, and was practically at a run when she turned a corner.

_Dammit, dead end._ She turned, and the turian was behind her.

"Damn, I don't see why Treiyk needs you." He said, and she took a step back.

"Treiyk needs to just leave me the hell alone." It came out of her mouth before she could stop, and she could see the turian's mandibles move. If she knew anything about turians, she would know that that would pass for a smile.

He chuckled and took a menacing step forward, and was abruptly thrown into a nearby wall.

She could hear a sickening crack as he fell, his body still fizzling slightly as he let out a groan. She looked down at her hands, realizing that she hadn't done that. _Shit, what now?_

She looked up at the figure that approached her and stepped back as far as she could go.

He pulled back his hood, and Kestya was surprised to see the wide smile across the Drell's face. She stared at him in disbelief as he started laughing.

"Damn, what did you do to piss of the Suns?" He said, kicking the body. He turned back to her.

She threw up a barrier, her heart pounding in her chest,"Stop right there!" Her voice shook, and there was no hiding the fear she was feeling at that moment.

"Who are you, and who are the Suns?" It was his turn to seem surprised as he stared down at her.

"What do you mean, 'who are the Suns'?" Her eyes narrowed, and he lifted his hands in mock surrender.

"Alright, alright. I'm Crix, and the Blue Suns are a merc group. The work mainly out of Omega, but do some dealings and stuff here." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked around nervously.

"Blue Suns...I thought it was just Treiyk that was after me." She mumbled, but Crix seemed to hear her, anyway.

"Treiyk? He's their leader, I thought you didn't know who the Suns were?"

Kestya shook her head, staring up at Crix with determined look in her eyes,"I don't." She said, letting the barrier fizzle out as she started walking. She brushed past him.

"Wait, what if he wasn't the only one?" She glared at him, her jaw set.

"What are you suggesting then?"

He looked around nervously again, and it seemed that the merc group probably had a large presence in the Citadel, at leats the Wards.

"Let me come with you. I mean, what are you, 18? I can bring you to your home, then we'll never see each other again."

"70." He looked back at her, a confused expression on his face as he followed her out from between the buildings.

"What?"

She sighed,"I'm 70 years old. Or, at least around 70. I stopped counting."

"Right." He said, following close behind her as she pushed her way through the small crowd,"Sorry. I forgot, asari don't age like drell."

She eventually found an elevator to the higher levels, and the two were left alone as the elevator slowly made it's way up.

"So, what's your name?"

"Kestya Pearson."

He nodded, and an awkward silence ensued, the _ding_ of the elevator the only sound other than their breathing.

The doors finally slid open,"The embassies?" Crix sounded surprised.

"I need to see the Asari councilar." She was determined to find out _why_ these people were after her, and she felt as though Liara T'Soni would have the answers.

"Alright, if you think she can help you."

"Trust me, I _do_ think she can help."

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**Woot! Now that it's the weekend, I finally had enough time to finish this chapter and get it up. Next chapter we'll find out more about Kestya's _mysterious past_, and maybe a bit about our new gentleman, Crix.**

**Before I forget, I just wanted to thank the people who have followed and favorited the story so far. You guys are the ones that keep me going with this, knowing that someone is actually enjoying my crappy writing skills keeps me motivated! Hope you're enjoying the story**

**Read and Review,**

**Sylvia**


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